Back in July of last year, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch proposed that a “dead simple Web tablet” be built for about $200 so he can surf the Web and do other lightweight tasks like send instant messages and make quick calls with Skype on the go. Fast forward to April 2009 and this concept for a cheap mobile Internet device looks like it’s closer to becoming a reality than most people are willing to think. While some might say that the TechCrunch Tablet (a.k.a. the “CrunchPad”) is nothing but vaporware that will never see the light of day, these photos (along with several others) prove otherwise.

Pictured above is a new prototype of the CrunchPad that touts a 12-inch capacitive screen, Intel Atom processor, a custom WebKit-based browser and pretty much all of the specs that were first considered at the product’s conception. Michael Arrington is careful to note that they are still not ready to launch this device and they can’t put the pin on a price point, but whenever they’re ready, I think we just might see another revolution in the computer industry. Or maybe not. Either way, this seems like an interesting product, and I can’t wait to try it out.

TechCrunch via CrunchGear